Regular cardiovascular exercise regimes combined with strength training are well known to develop and maintain health and well being for most people. Cross training is important not only to maintain strength and fitness and to reduce over-use injury, but also to prevent boredom, by varying exercise routines.
Exercise equipment that is easy to use is a desirable way to exercise when time is limited or during winter months when exercise outside is impractical. There are many different types of exercise equipment currently on the market, for example, treadmills, sleds, rowing machines, skiing machines and the like, which vary in price and complexity. A particular type of exercise equipment is the sledmill, which the user can push and pull across a floor. The sledmill is typically weighted to provide appropriate resistance. However, disadvantageously, the use of the sledmill requires considerable floor space to be used effectively. The inventors are aware of the designs, which combine treadmill with a holding means or a harness. These designs include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 8,444,533 to Robinson for “Exercise Apparatus and Training Method”;
U.S. Pat. No. 8,241,188 to Robinson for “Exercise Apparatus”;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,679 to Radow for “Bipedal locomotion training and performance evaluation device and method”; and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,015 to Watson for “Exercise apparatus employing counter-resistive treading mechanism”.
Disadvantageously, the designs described above have many parts, which adds to their complexity. It is likely that these designs would require considerable maintenance, and would likely be prohibitively expensive for many users. Furthermore, none of the designs allow the user to simultaneously modify the width of neither a handle part of the stationary apparatus, nor the height of a cross bar to which the handle part is connected. Importantly, none of the aforesaid machines offer the user forwards and backwards resistance in the desired biomechanical position in a restricted floor space. For example, none of the machines described permit sagittal plane resisted movement which is key to developing multi-plane strength and agility
Thus, there is a need for a stationary sledmill exercise apparatus which includes a resistance training feature that is easy to use, inexpensive to manufacture, transport, store and can be used in a location where space is limited.